NASA unveils Stunning image of Sun
He also added that the sun is slowly quietening down as far as its activity cycle is concerned but it will still take at least a couple of years for it to reach its minimum.
The distinguished color parts of the sun are seen as eruptions or flares that dissipate high-energy radiations and releasing other charged particles. The portrait, which combines images captured by three telescopes earlier this year, highlights active regions of the star that give off high-energy radiation. However, it was able to measure the energy of smaller microflares, which produced only one-millionth the energy of the larger flares.
“We still need the Sun to quieten down more over the next few years to have the ability to detect these events”, Dr Hannah said.
However, the x-ray images to be taken in the future by NuSTAR could provide the better information for proper observation and the telescope might shift its focus from its typical study subject of black holes to our closest star itself.
The Durham astroboffins have been using the NuSTAR data for their findings, but NASA also hopes to use the platform to analyze supernovae as soon as they appear.
The multi-layered view of coronal activity afforded by the telescopes has shown how equipment created to observe far-away objects like black holes can be useful in observing the Sun as well. In fact, it could help observers to pick up hypothetical nanoflares.
To make this beautiful image, NuSTAR X-ray observations (in blue) have been superimposed over ultraviolet observations made by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and lower-energy X-rays imaged by the Japanese Hinode observatory to produce a wonderfully psychedelic solar view. NuSTAR had the sensitivity to detect the high-energy X-rays emitted by these nanoflares.
The spotting of five new supermassive black holes recently has revealed their number could be bigger than previously thought. It is much hotter than the sun’s actual surface (as the plasma extending from its photosphere becomes hotter than the uppermost layers of the sun). NuSTAR was developed in partnership with the Danish Technical University and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
The research is funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. ASI provides the mission’s ground station and a mirror archive.